Rep. Sherry Appleton’s Biography

State Rep. Sherry Appleton, a former two-term Poulsbo City Council member, has called Poulsbo home for three decades. She was elected to the Washington State House of Representatives in 2004 and is chair of the House Community Development, Housing & Tribal Affairs Committee, as well as a member of the House Capital Budget and Public Safety committees, and the Joint Committee on Veterans’ and Military Affairs.

Outside the Legislature, Sherry is member of the Washington State Council on Aging and the Washington State Commission on Judicial Conduct. She is a former member of the Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission and chaired the Commission’s Juvenile Sentencing Committee, and serves on the state’s Public Defense Advisory Committee. She is a charter member of Legislators’ Leadership Council on HIV/AIDS at the Center for Women’s Policy Studies in Washington, D.C.

Sherry was appointed by Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton to serve on the Washington State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Washington Cities, on the Northwest Women’s Law Center Legislative Committee, as chair of the NARAL PAC, board member of NARAL, and vice-chair of the Washington State Women’s Political Caucus. In addition, she was elected in 2000 to represent the 1st commissioner district as a freeholder and serve with 20 other elected freeholders to review the Kitsap County Charter.

Since joining the House, Sherry, who was named Legislator of the Year by the Department of Veterans Affairs, has been a leading voice for veterans and active-duty military personnel and their families, and has worked on diverse policy issues ranging from criminal justice and health care to education and transportation. She helped draft and pass the Patients’ Bill of Rights and has been involved in negotiations at every level on the many issues that affect citizens of the state. She was instrumental in restoring funding for the Poulsbo Marine Science Center, for family planning clinics throughout the state, and for life-saving digital mammography services for low-income women.

Sherry has a blended family of five children, 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

The information on these pages was created by House staff for legislative purposes and is a historical record of legislative events and activities. None of this material is intended to either directly or indirectly assist any campaign for office or ballot proposition. RCW 42.52.180 prohibits the use of public resources for campaign purposes.